Sideways Sammy

A League Cup victory did little to launch Coventry City’s season. A home game against another likely bottom-half team is where the Sky Blues’ campaign is going to live or die upon. Coventry’s Premier League return truly begins here.

For all the excitement the nature of the challenge this year is that this team is now in the strange position of their first home match of the season essentially being a ‘must-win’ game. Of course, that is a ridiculous notion as there will be plenty of opportunities to pick up the requisite points for survival after this match but it feels vitally important that Coventry pick up a first league win as early as possible and begin to establish the formula for home wins that can become the foundation of this campaign.

Expected Line-Up

For all the flapping about a somewhat unconvincing win against Plymouth Argyle on Tuesday night, that game was all about getting fitness into the legs of players who’d missed out on pre-season. Victor Torp, Jack Rudoni, Gustavo Hamer, Taiwo Awoniyi, and Ephron Mason-Clark all played some valuable minutes in midweek to bolster Frank Lampard’s options for this game.

There are some key team selection questions heading into this match, divided between how much to change things up in reaction to the Arsenal game and how to handle a home game in which Coventry City need to be targeting victory in. With the latter in mind, it doesn’t really make much sense to read anything into the Arsenal performance, with Frank Lampard making a few tweaks so Coventry can play on the front foot.

The midfield set-up is going to be most indicative of the manager’s thinking. Jack Rudoni played an hour and looked sharp on Tuesday night so will probably come into the team ahead of either Frank Onyeka or Caleb Yirenkyi. Frank Onyeka is possibly carrying a knock so may be the one to drop out.

In an ideal world, Ephron Mason-Clark starts on the left wing, leaving Loum Tchaouna, Brandon Thomas-Asante and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto to fight over the right wing berth. However, that Mason-Clark wasn’t able to start in midweek suggests he’ll be on the bench for this game. That probably means Thomas-Asante will start on the left and Tchaouna on the right, which feels a little awkward and pretty harsh on Sakamoto but that seems to be where Lampard’s thinking is at currently.

Elsewhere, Taiwo Awoniyi looks to be the favourite to start in the centre-forward position, while the manager has said that Ethan Pinnock arrives at the club this week with a chance at starting in central defence. Pinnock’s addition potentially balances the defence quite nicely with an experienced left-footer, however, with the need to play on the front foot here, his lack of pace would be a concern and may see Bobby Thomas and Aurele Amenda favoured here.

Last Time We Met

Coventry City were on the verge of promotion as they travelled to take on Hull City back on Easter Monday. With Coventry the top-scorers in the Championship last year and Hull being the team with the third-most goals involved in their games, it promised to be a free-flowing basketball style in encounter. The end result was anything but.

For the second time that season, the Sky Blues and Tigers served up a lifeless goalless draw. Hull City defended with a determination that belied their porous defensive record, while Coventry looked timid, seeming to fear taking risks that might open the game up. Aside from a half-decent penalty appeal in the second-half, it was an almost entirely incident-free game.

Key Questions

1 – Are Hull City Playing With House Money?

Heading into the first two games of the season, Hull City might well have been targetting a point, maybe two, to put them on track for survival. Beating Manchester United puts them ahead of that imagined eight-ball and takes a lot of the pressure off them for what would otherwise be a very important match.

The Tigers were able to successfully nuzzle Manchester United last week by sitting deep and waiting for opportunities on the break and via set-pieces. They will surely feel they can rinse and repeat the formula here, putting the onus on Coventry City to break them down, knowing that even a point keeps them well above the required points-rate to survive.

Hull City showed last week that they have a physical defence comfortable in dealing with crosses, a confident, athletic goalkeeper, in Kostas Tzolakis, who can sweep up any danger, with Oli McBurnie an energetic, niggly physical presence up top who can bring others into play as that out-ball up top.

Likely to be further boosted by the knowledge that they kept two clean sheets against Coventry City last year, with a worse defence and goalkeeper, they will feel confident in repeating the trick. It will be up to Coventry to ensure they don’t do anything sloppy that can give Hull a lead to sit on as they look to force the issue.

2 – How Different A Prospect Are Coventry City At Home?

Last week’s defeat at Arsenal was a chastening experience. Not just because Coventry City lost but that the team looked so timid on the big occasion before conceding three goals that could probably all be attributed to individual errors. While there isn’t much to read into a performance away at the best team in the country, there is a worry that the experience might just be linger among a few players who had entered the season with confidence.

Playing at home should change all of that. Coventry have only lost four home games in the 18-and-a-bit months Frank Lampard has been in charge. While away performances have been mixed under the manager, this team tends not just to pick up points at home but to play confident, front-foot football.

This might be the first Premier League home game at the CBS Arena, but given that Hull City were in the Championship last season with Coventry, this shouldn’t feel too different to recent years. The only thing that might scupper that confidence in victory is the different pressure that playing on the global stage that the Premier League is presents to this team.

3 – Is Caleb Yirenkyi Vital To Cov’s Chances?

Frank Lampard has named two very different midfield set-ups this season. The trio selected for the Arsenal game was intended to provide Matt Grimes with two physical runners next to him, in Frank Onyeka and Caleb Yirenkyi, to avoid exposing the captain as the deepest-lying midfielder – which fell apart for Arsenal’s second goal when Coventry were caught up the pitch, leaving Grimes to cover space Onyeka had left behind. Against Plymouth Argyle, Lampard rotated, with Jack Rudoni playing further forward, while Victor Torp and Caleb Yirenkyi shared responsibilities playing ‘the Grimes role’ dropping into the back three to distribute possession.

The need to play on the front foot and break down Hull City will surely see Jack Rudoni stay in the starting line-up, with any changes from midweek coming in which two players operate behind Rudoni. One of those will be Matt Grimes, leaving an important decision to make as to who to pair him with.

Caleb Yirenkyi is the favourite to start alongside Grimes and plays a crucial role here while he’s still adapting to English football. The Ghanaian has shown promise in his early appearances in Sky Blues, full of energy, quality passing and a desire to get stuck in, however, he looks like he needs to get used to the speed and intensity of the English game, arguably lucky not to be sent-off for two yellow cards against Arsenal and caught on the ball a few times against Plymouth Argyle.

If Yirenkyi is still adapting to Premier League football, that could leave quite a big hole in the midfield for a game where Frank Lampard is looking to make room for Jack Rudoni as a more attack-minded option. The wider concern is that neither Frank Onyeka nor Victor Torp offer the combination of nous and physical presence to balance out a midfield of Grimes, Rudoni, and one other, while Gustavo Hamer doesn’t really look to be a serious option in a midfield two at this point either.